#and talk about the fragility of endangered species

[cerulean-star-ceramics]

So like, I made these paper thin porcelain casts of endangered butterflies and moths, but I'm not sure if these ones in the photos still exist anymore bc they're so f*ing fragile and snap like a potato chip LMAO. Kinda fitting. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Should I have a funeral for their remains? I still have them, though I made so many of these I'm not sure who is who. There's just a pile of Quick Trip cups filled to the brim with broken butterfly wings.

I find it so funny I tried to be so meaningful with these but now I'm kinda just so frustrated with them now that I despise looking at them 🤣😭

They were cool while they lasted ig

[rjzimmerman]

Hawaiian monk seal. Photo: Megan Nagel/USFWS

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

The re-election of Donald Trump has scientists and conservationists like me worried about the wildlife and wild places we’ve dedicated our lives to protecting. This is especially true for ocean and coastal natural resource management and endangered species conservation, given Trump’s ongoing rhetoric. He’s attacked climate science and supported a plan to dismantle the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There are also reasons to be concerned about the scientists working to study and protect these species, who could find themselves out of work or actively persecuted.

During his first administration, Trump became the first president in history to un-protect a protected area when he lifted fishing restrictions in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, the 4,900-square-mile home to many endangered marine species and fragile deep-sea corals. Given his statements against national monuments and other public lands, that’s likely to repeat over the next four years. Project 2025, the right-wing playbook for his second administration, even calls for highly destructive mining practices within the boundaries of currently protected areas.

Meanwhile the planet’s biggest overarching threat — climate change — is expected to worsen under Trump, who ordered the U.S. to leave the Paris Climate Agreement on his first day back in office. Experts say there’s already basically no chance of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius, an important threshold for the survival of many species. This means that the oceans will continue to experience alarming heat waves, ice caps will melt, and sea levels will rise. Many ocean species are already moving out of their historical ranges or declining in population as waters warm above animals’ threshold for adaptation.

Both Donald Trump’s record and his promises for his second term show that marine and coastal species are unlikely to get the support they need to save them from further declines or even extinction. Experts warn that abandoning our climate goals, loosening or eliminating restrictions on pollution and habitat destruction, and failing to enact new environmental limits on industry will be catastrophic for many of these creatures.

And we’re not talking about a handful of fish: Overall NOAA is responsible for the conservation of 40 endangered and 59 threatened marine and coastal species in U.S. waters. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for many more that live in freshwater and along beaches and coasts. All of them, and the ecosystems they depend on, face uncertain paths as Trump once again takes office.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The bald eagle has been removed from the list of endangered species in Ontario.

“It’s a big win for Ontario,” Environment Minister David Piccini told CTV News Toronto on the lawn of Queen’s Park Wednesday.

“I mean, talk to anyone now they are starting to see them again.”

The bald eagle has been on the Species at Risk list for about 50 years. Piccini said that banning an insecticide called DDT, which caused nests and eggs to be incredibly fragile, and “collective efforts we’ve made to build a more sustainable environment” were factors in the bird’s recovery. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[nurhangokturk]

Art and the Environment: A Symbiotic Relationship

Art and the environment are related in several complex and multifaceted ways. It is very common to see New Orleans artists serving as advocates for the natural world. Accomplished artists use their work to create awareness about environmental issues, inspire some positive change, and encourage a deeper connection between humans and nature.

The beauty and fragility of the natural world

One of the most ingenious ways that New Orleans artists address environmental concerns is by highlighting the beauty and fragility of the natural world. Artists capture landscapes, wildlife, or natural phenomena in their works to remind their fellow humans of the importance of preserving these invaluable resources. Additionally, they are also using their art to explain the effects of environmental degradation, such as pollution, deforestation, or climate change.

Conservation of the environment

Inspiring action towards environmental preservation is one another recurring theme in the works of New Orleans artists. Many of them have created thought-provoking pieces to challenge people’s perceptions of the environment. Several artists are encouraging viewers to consider their own impact on the earth and take the right steps to make a positive difference. For example, an artist might create a sculpture to explain the consequences of plastic pollution or a painting to talk of the beauty of endangered species.

Collaborating on environmental issues

Art is a potential platform for dialogues and collaboration on issues concerning the environment. By bringing together artists, scientists, and activists, art can promote new ideas and partnerships to encourage innovative solutions to environmental challenges. For example, an artist might collaborate with a biologist to create a piece to create awareness about climate change. Similarly, a community might get together and create a mural to celebrate the local ecosystem.

Promoting connection to nature

In addition to advocating and facilitating change, art can also provide a sense of solace and connection to nature. The beauty of a painting, sculpture, or other artwork can encourage a deeper appreciation for the natural world and our existence within it. This connection can inspire us in several ways to protect the environment and strive for a more sustainable future.

Take Away

The relationship between art and the environment is a powerful and essential one. Through their work, New Orleans artists are creating awareness, inspiring action, and fostering a deeper connection to the natural world. Supporting the work of environmental artists in New Orleans is an effective way to give your bit to the environment and vouch for a more sustainable and equitable future for all.

For more information about Original New Orleans Artwork and Custom Paintings New Orleans please visit:- Nurhan Gokturk

[speakinc]

🌿 Meet Kurdt Greenwood: The Wildlife Keynote Speaker Who Lives and Breathes the Wild 🌿

When it comes to the wilderness, few people embody its spirit like Kurdt Greenwood. A dynamic naturalist, passionate conservationist, and expert survivalist, Kurdt’s life is a testament to the beauty and raw power of nature. As a wildlife keynote speaker, he doesn’t just talk about the wild—he brings it to life with stories and insights that leave audiences in awe.

🦅 Conservationist at Heart: Kurdt’s deep love for wildlife is evident in everything he does. From his work on the frontlines of conservation to his dedication to preserving endangered species, he’s committed to ensuring that future generations can experience the wonder of the natural world. His approach is hands-on and proactive, often taking him to some of the most remote and untamed places on Earth.

🐾 Survival Expert: Survival in the wild isn’t just a skill—it’s an art form, and Kurdt is a master artist. With years of experience navigating the harshest environments, he teaches the importance of adaptability, resilience, and respect for the natural world. Whether it’s guiding teams through challenging terrains or educating on the intricacies of animal behavior, Kurdt’s knowledge is unparalleled.

🌍 Animal Behaviour Specialist: Understanding the creatures we share this planet with is key to coexisting harmoniously. Kurdt’s expertise in animal behavior is not just about observing—it’s about connecting. He has an uncanny ability to read and interpret the actions of wildlife, offering unique insights into how we can better protect these incredible beings.

🎤 Engaging Speaker: Kurdt’s passion for wildlife is contagious. As a keynote speaker, he captivates audiences with thrilling tales from the wild, insightful lessons on survival, and deep reflections on our relationship with nature. His dynamic presentations are more than just speeches—they’re experiences that leave a lasting impact.

🌱 Why He Matters: In a world where the natural environment is under constant threat, voices like Kurdt Greenwood’s are more important than ever. His work reminds us of the fragile beauty of our planet and the urgent need to protect it. Through his speaking engagements, Kurdt not only educates but also inspires action, encouraging us all to become stewards of the Earth.

So, if you’re passionate about wildlife, conservation, or just love a good adventure story, Kurdt Greenwood is someone you need to know. His life’s work is a call to reconnect with the wild, respect its wonders, and fight for its future. 🌳🐻

[xasha777]

In a futuristic world where megacities sprawl under domed skies, technological advancements have transformed everyday life, but at a cost: the natural environment is a rarity, preserved only in isolated pockets. Among the buzz of hovercars and digital billboards, there’s a café that stands out, not for its coffee, but for its revolutionary approach to sustainability.

The protagonist, Zane, a muscular young man with striking features, is a bioengineer for The Livestock Conservancy, an organization dedicated to preserving endangered species through advanced genetics and sustainable farming practices. On this particular morning, he sits in his favorite café, a place that supports his organization by offering exclusive products derived from ethically conserved livestock.

As Zane sips his lab-grown coffee, a hologram flickers beside his table—a news update from The Livestock Conservancy. The organization has made a breakthrough: they've successfully reintroduced a species of miniature cattle, once thought extinct, into the wild. These cattle are not only a genetic marvel but also crucial for the ecological balance of the few remaining natural habitats.

The café, filled with ambient chatter and the soft hum of machinery, suddenly dims. The daily virtual conference is about to begin, hosted by The Livestock Conservancy. Zane, as today's keynote speaker, prepares to discuss the integration of advanced AI in tracking and managing livestock health remotely. As he talks, his audience, a blend of virtual attendees and café patrons, listens intently. His presentation showcases the AI-driven drones that monitor the health and growth of livestock without human intervention, ensuring a perfect balance with nature.

Mid-presentation, Zane’s personal AI assistant alerts him to a potential threat—an unidentified drone hovering near the conservancy’s newest habitat. Without pausing, Zane commands his AI to switch the café’s screens to a live feed of the habitat. The patrons watch in awe as Zane remotely guides a security drone to intercept the intruder. It’s a tense moment, a reminder of the constant challenges in protecting these fragile ecosystems.

The crisis averted, applause breaks out among the café patrons. Zane concludes his presentation with a call to action, urging everyone to support global efforts in conservation through technology.

As the café lights return to normal, Zane reflects on his role in this new world. His job at The Livestock Conservancy isn’t just about maintaining the past; it’s about shaping a future where technology and nature coexist harmoniously. Every sip of his coffee, every drone flight, every creature brought back from the brink of extinction adds to a hopeful narrative, one where humanity finally learns to balance its technological prowess with the natural world.

[lost-lycaon]

Dogs In The Wild - nature film review. Photo above from PBS.

PBS Nature has always been on a mission. As of 2023 entering its 42nd year of producing natural history films, Nature has no peer in advocating for the wild. The sheer volume of work seemingly covers every possible subject, every branch of the evolutionary tree, and leaves no part of our fragile world without a champion. There is little reticence in upholding those parts of the world that humanity would just as soon exterminate, chief among them the carnivores. Meat eaters are essential parts of any healthy ecosystem, but far too many people still think them pests, and shoot them on sight. 

This makes no sense from the standpoint of ecology, as one predator shot will only make room for others. Even stranger is how familiar those faces are - in particular the dogs. Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Class Mammalia, Order Carnivora, Family Canidae. Present on all continents except Antarctica, they have spread across the Earth to inhabit every biome from the icy wastes of the Arctic to the deadly desiccation of the Namib Desert. Thirty seven species of canids exist today, though some are among the most critically endangered. Dogs In The Wild as a series brings some of these faces to our screens as a bridge to empathy with creatures we may never encounter, but whose lives we affect every day with our actions. Time to meet the family. 

The Arctic Wolf lives its entire life above the tree line. They hunt in packs, bringing down prey larger than themselves, and they share the spoils as a group. Large brains not only negotiate the vast territory they must patrol to find food, but also to read visual cues from the faces of the other wolves. Expressive and nuanced visages get information across better than any words. And as a pack they bond with the plaintive echoing howl that reverberates across the mountainsides. 

The Dhole patrols southern India in packs of about fifteen, and they are a talkative lot. The vocal chatter is frequent and filled with distinctive calls. They are high frequency, so high detail can be communicated across short distances truncated by thick foliage and forest. Talk is important in dense brush to allow a pack to coordinate, while denying their location to the tigers and leopards that hunt them. 

High elevation stark plateaus are the hunting grounds of Tibetan Fox of the Himalayas, and the Ethiopian Wolf of the Ethiopian Highlands. Hunting a landscape devoid of cover, they make their living off pikas and mole rats, each employing unique hunting tactics to scrape a meager living to keep alive the next generation. For the Ethiopian Wolf, the struggle is a critical one, with less than 500 individuals left alive, and their habitat steadily shrinking, lost to farmlands. 

The Fennec Fox is the smallest canid, and with its enormous ears is well suited for survival in the Sahara desert. They dig burrows at the foot of dunes where moisture collects, and they are adaptable and unfussy, eating insects, berries, roots, anything will do. And they never drink water, extracting every drop they need from their food. 

Australian Dingoes are similarly adaptable, taking advantage of new food sources. When pushed out of one habitat, they hunt the shore for crabs and turtle eggs, or exploit a recent fire to find any corpses. Canids as a whole have benefited from this inherent quality in their design, bending with the changes and finding a way to survive as the planet changes around them. Red foxes have managed to make their habitat the human city, surviving on garbage and leftover food. 

Lest the viewer think this is a staid list of species, Dogs In The Wild has cracking shots capturing extraordinary behavior. Black-Backed Jackals at a waterhole, ever a canny predator with a catholic appetite, manage to hunt lightning-quick birds. Astoundingly, a jackal leaps and catches a guinea fowl as it takes off, sharing the carcass with their partner for life. Even the shyest of species are caught on camera, surely a task that took weeks of tough remote camera work and impossible levels of patience. 

Dogs are despised, even with their relationship with us as companions, as they also represent competition. Humans are so very jealous of even the most marginal of challenges. Any sort of wild behavior is excuse enough to label an animal as vermin, and word gets around that they must be destroyed. Until the mid 1980s, rangers would shoot African Wild Dogs, and even offered bounties for corpses. Why? They were deemed ‘vicious’, and legends abounded about their evil acts. Though not a single one has attacked or killed a human in the wild, stories were spread nonetheless. Reason was, they kill their prey fast, and tear them to pieces. Like the spotted hyena, they eat their prey to death. 

That was reason enough. Except they kill and butcher their prey for a good reason - most African Painted Dogs are killed by lions at the carcass. Lions kill them instinctively, to avoid the competition. So Painted Dogs must kill quickly, tearing open the abdomen, unrooting the heart or ripping away viscera so the antelope dies without so much as a bleat. Every hunter bolts down food, up to a quarter of their weight at once, and they leave the bones before they are ambushed. The meat is carried back to the pups at the den and regurgitated for them. Or if the pups are old enough to bivouac to hunts, they are first at the carcass - the adults stand aside. This is the reason for their ‘vicious’ behavior - they hunt efficiently, and do so for the pups survival. 

Though many of these species stand on a knife, falling toward inevitable extinction, there is hope as research is leading to important new discoveries about their physiology and behavior. African Painted Dogs were once impossible to rehabilitate after injury. Snares are often the cruel tools used to destroy Painted Dogs, but even if rescued, individuals would die of stress in rehab. The Endangered Wildlife Trust in an interview during the Dogs In The Wild documentary noted an extraordinary finding. If a Painted Dog is injured, the rest of the pack will not abandon them. They are darted as well, captured as one, and together the pack assists in the Painted Wolf’s rehab. And then they are set free. Every Dog so rescued has survived since. 

More research is needed to understand the rest of the canids, as African Painted Dogs are not the only emotionally intelligent species in the family. In Swift Foxes, personalities matter as some are selected for their caution when moving individuals to new areas and ensure genetic variability as a species is rebuilt. Wolves of various species have been shown to exhibit high intelligence, capable of solving puzzles - especially if they have other pack members present to work with. Other canid species are indeed doing well. Golden Jackals were nearly decimated by ignorant hunters - now they are spreading across Europe and have been seen as far north as the Arctic Circle. 

Dogs In The Wild is exemplary for its introduction to a family of great variety and adaptability. Far from a doomsayer screed, this documentary makes a case for how the problem and solution of endangered species rests entirely in human hands. And it just so happens there are researchers out there who work difficult jobs, hands perpetually covered with dirt, making very little money but are rich with passion, and are ready to hear from you how you can help. 

Endangered Wildlife Trust - working in Southern Africa with African Painted Dogs, vultures, Riverine hares, frogs - just about any species you can imagine. They work to stabilize the ecosystem, and the endangered species stabilizes with it. 

ewt.org.za

WildlifeACT - join them for 2-200 weeks at a time directly working with carnivores in KwaZulu-Natal. Nothing equals the thrill of joining African Painted Dogs on a hunt. A HUNT!

www.wildlifeact.com

Waterberg  Wild Dog Initiative - a group dedicated to research and monitoring of free-roaming packs of African Painted Dogs in the Waterberg region of South Africa. Nature Reserves are not the future - they are isolated islands within which inbreeding will destroy the viability of any wild animal within. Only by downing fences and enabling movement between wild areas will species survive. This is what the Waterberg Wild Dogs are going to achieve. 

www.waterbergwilddogs.org.za 

[supersources]

interview with the vampire (2022): episode 2, ... after phantoms of your former self. tw:  murder,  death,  blood,  strong language,  all vampire things.

* did you always work for him? did you sign an nda?

* is it only work or are you and he...?

* i serve a god.

* you missed at least three or four endangered species.

* i want to apologize for my outburst earlier. i can assure you, it will not happen again.

* memory is a monster. we forget, it doesn't.

* eh, can we turn down the music?

* two vampires walk into a church....

* the bliss was merely a stage in my transformation, pain followed.

* your body is confused. your lungs feel like water, your heart, fire. you feel as if you're dying... because you are.

* a proper disposal is the penance of a sated vampire.

* we live off the blood of the living. lap up the blood of the deceased and it'll suck you right down into death along with your victim.

* there's the spark.

* you were fucking loaded.

* your ears will pick up the world like a maddening symphony.

* your eyes will wander, led by your hunger.

* they were your brothers and sisters once but now they're your savory inferiors.

* straight to the prettiest girl at the party. i admire the aesthetic.

* just to be clear here, gents, we are here to talk about farm equipment. am i right?

* the neck. bite the neck. no... no, you don't bite the blood, you suck it.

* for our next carpet, i'm thinking persian.

* this is your home, now. breathe.

* you ain't fucking hearin' me!

* hey! that's comin' out of my pay!

* the sun gives life to everything but us. i should have taught you that.

* the life of a vampire has its challenges... and its rewards.

* i ain't sleeping in a coffin.

* you've had a long life... and such an extraordinary one ahead.

* it's okay... you can be on top.

* i got in that coffin on my own free will.

* in the quiet dark, we were equals.

* vampires are killers. apex predators whose all-seeing eyes were meant to give them detachment.

* don't expect every reader to swallow that one.

* when i first started learning english, i abhorred it. every word felt like a doorknob falling out of my mouth.

* killing folks ain't a second language.

* these are nightmares i'm having, not dreams.

* he's lying, you know. he wants the job so he can steal from you.

* you gonna make me beg?!

* it's not cheating with a woman because i can't get pregnant.

* i'm gonna ditch this town and be somebody... or i'll just go home.

* it's a very distracting gift, the petty musings of meat.

* what am i thinking right now?

* the architects of our creation mean to humble us. we're at the mercy of the other's discretion.

* you chase after phantoms of your former self. i'll break you of it.

* the curtains go up at eight.

* look what the wind blew in...

* i don't remember inviting him but, please, take your overdressed self and have a fine time.

* i see you have a banjo band in your front yard...

* don't come back fragile.

* haven't heard a knock on my door... it's half a mile both ways.

* you making me a uncle right here?

* you hide from me this long again, i'll hunt you down and slap you sideways.

* well, you really do have a mind inside that head of yours, don't you?

* you know, i had my doubts... but you really earned your 15%.

* i had powers now, and decades of rage to process, and it was both random and unfortunate, the man picked that night to dabble in fuckery. if not him, it would have been the next man.

* he disrespected me! he said i did a good job.

* you are a library of confusion.

* yes, let's have this conversation again.

* couple of garish priests go missing, people say "fine, most likely kid fiddlers." but this was an important man in town! the police will be looking for this man!

* i don't like sleeping angry.

* for the record, if disrespect was done to you, i would have killed him myself.

* well, what can i do to make it up to you?

* how can i stop you? how can i say no to you?

* i'm sure mama would love to see you.

* i no longer kill. my last victim was in the year 2000.

* did you eat the baby?

* what on earth would a meth-addicted son of a coal miner in west virginia want with eternal life?

* you have to stop seeing them. they'll grow fearful of you if they haven't already.

* it's a rite of passage for all of us.

* i ain't never gonna have a family of my own, am i?

* i'm your family...

* you should just throw me in the incinerator and make another.

* you're a challenge every sunset, and i wouldn't have it any other way.

* i have a private box and i had tuxedos made... i've been neglectful of romance.

* he had a way about him, those first years.

* how many of us are out there? we can't be the only ones.

* music pierced his damned soul... and any humans who were involved in the creation of it existed on an elevated plane in his eyes.

* i was moved to see he too had his human attachments.

* i don't understand how someone like that can make it onto a stage.

* he removed a lifetime of confidence, of joy, in less than half an hour.

* why do you do this?!

* well, i like to do it. i enjoy it.

* you don't have to humiliate him.

* well, i didn't say you had to enjoy it!

* kill them swiftly if you have to, but do it! embrace what you are! you are a killer!

* come now, love, let's get you to the couch to die.* i was never going to be a natural. i was never going to savor the aftertaste.

* i try to have a human dish once a week to maintain the thread.

* it tastes like most human food... like paste, chalk, soap...

[plush-rabbit]

Ghostface Falling In Love

Warnings: NSFW mentions A/N: It gets an itty bitty dark but there’s softness!!

He hadn’t meant to fall in love with you. Ghostface could keep his tendencies and the more perverse feelings separated quite well while he played with his victims but when you answered the phone and talked to him in that sweet voice of yours, full of honesty with a melodic laugh, he could feel something different.

You had admitted to him that you were scared of scary movies- more so, you were paranoid with them and he figured he could mess with that but then something must have fallen inside your house to make you gasp and how he cherished that noise. Broken and shaky, he could picture the little jump that most people do, the hand over your heart and the whimper that accompanied it. You apologizing just made him salivate, to yearn to hear the noise again and again.

You must be naïve or lonely. A mixture of both perhaps to continue to answer his calls. You talk to him as if he were an old friend, telling him stories of your day and letting the silence drag out until he’s clutching at his heart and urging himself to tell you about his- to tell you how he goes hunting and asking what you think of that. And you have such a cute answer- caring even- if it helps with population control and it’s painless and if he isn’t killing an endangered species, then who are you to chastise him. And he loves it. He loves you.

He starts to get careless. He follows you around with a lowered hat and dark clothing, always keeping you in sight. He goes into stores and watches what catches your eye, buys what you want or even showed the slightest interest in. But he can’t exactly give it to you. He can’t have you know how he follows you throughout the day and watches you in the dead of night, peeking between the blinds and the curtain, watching as you lay under the blankets with a stuffed animal in your arms. Oftentimes, you aren’t asleep, you have a hand slapped over your mouth and he can see the rise and dip of your chest as a hand disappears under the blanket and it's then when he leaves, pulsing and biting at his lip until blood is pooling on his tongue. He can’t see you in such a vulnerable position.

If he sees someone bother you, a car that almost hit you- whether it was your fault or not-, a worker who was a bit too mean, or just someone who looked at you in a way they shouldn’t have, he’s taunting them until he’s had his fun. He can’t have anyone harming you, can’t have you come an inch close to danger.

He gives himself an alias to you. A simple name that he was glad he chose since you liked it so much. You even gave him a nickname, giggling to yourself and he can see between your blinds how you clutch your pillow close to your chest and have this rather wide grin, and he can’t help but fall deeper in love with you.

Ghostface comes to you by accident. Or rather, he comes to your friend but how was he supposed to know that you were having a sleepover. You must have messaged them or had a talk in the car, somewhere where he couldn’t keep track of you or hear you. But there you are, clinging onto his arm that holds the knife, pulling it back with a tear stricken face as you try to protect your friends that lay on the ground with screams that pierce his ears.

He can’t hurt you. He could never. But he can’t let you be here. He can’t have you somewhere where you were already so close to danger. So he picks you up, and takes you, and while it hurts him knowing that you’re clawing at his back and biting at him, pounding against him and screaming for him to put you down, he doesn’t harm you. He puts you down for a quick second, just to cover your eyes and in the process of you trying to run, he pulls on your ankles and you scrape yourself along the ground.

You come to when he’s cleaning your wounds. He didn’t tie you up- he didn’t want you to freak out more than you would have but he still can’t show you his face, he can’t bear to reveal himself when he knows you’d reject him for what he did. So he keeps the mask on and holds his hands in the air waiting for you to calm down and when you do, he explains himself. He’ll return you home- he promises, just rest for a bit and wait for the sun to go down. He won’t play with your fragile state of mind, just relax and sit next to him.

He holds you close, soothes over your shaking body and rubs the plastic, rubber feeling mask against your face. He tries to control himself, to not let his hands wander too much, holding you close, feeling how you pinch your legs together and whimper when he lays his hand brush over the exposed skin on your stomach and he’s shameful when he feel himself grow hard, buries himself in the crook of your neck trying to smell at the rose body lotion that you wear.

As promised, he returns you the next night. It’s a mess and he calls as his alias rather than try to stalk you, keeping himself close to the bed where you laid with him, burying his nose into the sheets and asking you what happened and it fills him with disgust at how much he loves the sound of your tears but he can stop the rutting motions against the pillow you laid upon.

His love comes in a twisted manner. He wants you to rely on him, wants you to be so deeply in love with him that when he reveals who he is, you can’t turn to anyone else, you wouldn’t dare to run from him. He wants you close, to press your lips against his and let his body indulge in yours. Ghostface loves you and he wants to protect you, wants nothing more than for you to trust him.

[starlightshore]

How does Monster Food Work? a quick ut theory/analysis

Actually screw it here’s a quick analysis, no pictures because i wrote this quick.

*EDIT went back, there's pics and spelling errors are fixed. Note this was written at 3am or something originally lol.

I believe that monster food is magic that’s mixed with plants grown from the ground. The plant material is then shaped into different foods. A simple example: there is no meat productions underground except for the snail farm. We do, however, have examples of food that aren’t meat/dairy when you expect it to be otherwise.

Granted, this isn’t accessible by normal means, so how canonical it is debatable. (Like, entry #17 is commonly seen as canon so...?) There are barely any bugs underground.

I'm catching bugs. But the underground doesn't have many... -room 123.

That’s so odd to think about actually! Without bugs you can’t really have working ecosystem! Considering the wording concerning the barrier is:

“* Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a  powerful SOUL can leave.“

If anything can come in, we can expect fallen animals, seeds, wind ect. But how open is the barrier to life on the surface really?

“ALPHYS updated status. * WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN  HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME”

Now this could just be about Hotland specifically, however one can get the sense that weather wouldn’t be a factor to the rest of the underground either as their name sake and areas seem so little changes to them. It rains in waterfall, it snows in Snowdin. This lack of seasons would greatly impact ecosystems.

Here is a quick reminder on how monster food works, as spoken by Big Mouth at Grillby’s:

“* Isn't human food different  from monster food?* It does things like "spoil."* And when you eat it, it  passes all the way through  your whole body.”

“* To a human, monster food  would be very interesting.* As soon as you eat it, it  converts perfectly into  energy. “

it seems to me that Monster food is similar to Monster magic. Both are magical in nature -monster food doesn’t spoil, and attacks are magic itself. We shouldn’t expect monster food to be the same as human food from the start, we can’t make assumptions.

Let’s connect their food to their bodies: What are monsters and what are their magic?

We know Boss Monsters shed: ”* There is some white fur stuck in the drain. “ and we do see both Papyrus’ and Undyne’s attacks are left over as physical objects.  “* (It's a box of bones.) “

Though not exclusively so!

So magic itself CAN be created as a physical material but it can also dissipate. I’d imagine this fluidity functions similarly to the monster’s themselves! Monsters are beings that are more in-tuned to their souls purely because they don’t have water/carbon based physical bodies like humans. They are made of dust, magic and their souls.

Having their attacks/magic literally being the same material just makes sense! Why would they need meat? Those are bodies of actual animals, which monsters are not. We do see plants being made into monster food on two occasions and only once with meat.

Looking at the artbook we were originally going to get a glimpse at their farm production. (I have a digital copy, and searching in it takes Forever so i couldn’t find the text that talks about it??? i’ll edit this point later when I can find it)

It seems the “meat” we do see in game (aside from the Snails) are shown to surprisingly be plants. Golden flowers are made into tea, but that’s hardly unusual.The first notable example for this sort of monster food is that Sans’ hotcats are actually water-sausages! It’s implied through the phone call that Sans just yoinks them right out of waterfall to use for his hotdog/hotcats.

* "Hot Dog...?" Heals 20 HP * The "meat" is made of something  called a "water sausage."

The second example is one that we don’t get to eat, but we do see it’s production!

This is Alphys’ icecream machine. She lied to Undyne that the tall grass we see in Waterfall was an endangered species so that Undyne would ensure people didn’t tamper with the grass. This was simply because Alphys wanted the grass to produce icecream with.

I told you that seaweed was like... scientifically important...

Really, I just... I just use it to make ice cream!

This is the only time we really see monster food being made- it takes a green slush and converts it into pink ice cream.

Now, let’s get back to the snails. I bet you’re dying to talk about the snails.

Snails are an oddity because they seem to have a monster-like consciousness and are taken by Asriel’s light when absorbing the monster souls.

* there was a flash of light  outside my window* i saw the snails on the farm  disappear 

It’s not like Asriel was just taking everything -no, he was taking monster souls. And they race and have emotions, there’s snails that look visually unlike natural snails.

* but the snail looks  discouraged...* her best wasn't good  enough... 

Napstablook also refers to your racing snail as a “Her,” which also implies more sentience/person-hood. (Though, I’d argue “it” is such a common pronoun underground that if it wouldn’t be evidence for it non-person-hood per-say, but this is specifically “she/her” for a snail.)

Some even speak!

* I've been long overdue for  a second house...

So the snails........ are monsters. That’s... unsettling.

Let’s give Toriel and Asgore the benefit of the doubt that some of these snails are actually real surface snails. I don’t want to imagine some monsters are deemed as food compared to others. In fact, the snails Toriel describes in her “snail facts” directly contradicts the above snail’s autonomy.

* Talk. Really. Slowly? * Just kidding, snails  don't talk. 

So yes, Toriel doesn’t eat monster-snails. Is this confusing? Yes! Thank you toby.

Snails are the only confirmed-to-be-meat we see in the game. And alongside that, Toriel and Asgore are the only customers to the Blooky Snail Farm. (It’s safe to assume Toriel grows her own or gets them from somewhere else.)

* this place used to get a lot of business...* but our main customer  disappeared one day...* now it's just some hairy guy that shows up once  a month...

I think it’s an important detail that the only consumer of animal-meat we know of are boss monsters, who are notorious for being an exception to monsterkind. I’d argue that boss monsters might be more human like than normal monsters, as in they also have some physical matter to them. As stated before, monsters are made of dust and magic.Their souls don’t persist after death, while Boss monsters do for a brief moment.

Obviously they’re not the same level as humans, but it is worthy to note they’re extraordinary! Toriel also oddly enough, takes longer to die and bleeds black.

Which. is very odd. sans could have ketchup or blood also, but it’s hard to know without more info. (I mean hey, looking at you darkner-sans theoriests lol) Deltarune further confirms that monsters don’t bleed (at least in Hometown) which makes sense when monsters are just dust.

Is this because Toriel has more physical matter to her? Is that why her soul is stronger -being more physically separated from her magical/partly physical body. Humans are strong because their souls are disconnected from their bodies, so what makes boss monsters different?

I propose that it’s either from being a boss monster or from having snails in her diet that gives her this distance and therefore power in comparison to other monsters. (Or rather, the reason she likes snails in her diet is because of her boss monster nature, as she’d need the meat for it’s heavier matter content and proteins)

I don’t think it’s a coincidence the only real meat we see is famously eaten by boss monsters and the three monster foods we know how are made are through plants, and we can see the icecream looks vastly different from the sea-weed its made of.

Here’s an additional thought. maybe the use of using magical bullets releases some of the physical material consumed by eating monster food. Having a good balance of monster food (and it’s material within) and using one’s magic attacks keeps a mounter strong and healthy. So I imagine monsters need both healthy emotions and a consistent diet of magic to live!

so. tldr; monster food is plant based. this makes up the physical “dust” that makes up their fragile physical forms. Toriel and Asgore eat snails which are the only known-for-sure animal product in the game, and it’s because of that they’re more physical.

[spell-cleaver]

Astrophilia

@star-wars-wlweek

Day 4: Courtship Traditions & Role Reversal

Read it on AO3 or on FFN!

Life on a Rebel base had little opportunity for stability or leisure time in all worlds, but it wasn’t like all Leias expected it. The Alliance was still new and fragile, and Leia still wasn’t used to the sensation of being… around Rebels from other cells. Her experience of resistance was through moving from place to place on a near-daily basis, constant jetlag, the fierce wind in her face as she flew on Enfys’s tail and shot down their attackers before she was shot down herself.

Resistance was lying down in a hasty campy around a crackling campfire in a team of too many species to care for decency or distance. It was about finding a new family despite her history working for the very syndicate that they fought against. Killing Dryden Vos and leaving only a scar on her wrist where the Crimson Dawn symbol used to be had apparently earned a fraction of their trust, and every loyal mission thereafter had earned her even more.

Sitting in a Rebel base, knowing they had the chance to be something bigger, was different. She’d been a cog in the machine before, in the White Worms, in Crimson Dawn. Luke had chafed against it and escaped to fly the galaxy, but she’d been too foolishly loyal to leave until it had become unbearable.

This would be different, she knew. She and the other Cloud-Riders would be fighting for a cause she believed in. But she would still miss her close-knit families born of adversity. She already didn’t see Luke enough.

Even so, she’d thought when she saw the Alderaanian delegation come to negotiate their involvement. Perhaps it would still be possible to make this fight personal.

Princess Qi’ra Organa of Alderaan was accompanying her father to the talks, but she was left to wander the base on Dantooine while Senators Organa and Mothma talked with the other leaders.

She was extremely attractive, Leia had to admit, even in her nondescript fatigues, and Leia had very much enjoyed exchanging barbs and witticisms with her when she volunteered to show her around base. Her long locks, braided in an intricate bun, made Leia self-conscious of her own short, shabby hair, but for what it was worth, the princess seemed… somewhat attracted to her too.

They were here for ten days for the negotiations. Permanently, if the negotiations went well. So Leia decided to jump on the chance while she could.

In theory, she should know nothing about Alderaanian courtship rituals. She was a scum rat turned criminal turned Rebel. She worked in the Outer Rim, far from the planet of beauty and its people. But somehow she had an instinct for how to open them, and it involved a bouquet of… candlewick flowers?

That would prove problematic, considering Dantooine’s climate. But she dug around—checking with Benthic which plants were toxic or not—and scraped together a bouquet of gold flowers, some with crinkled edges, some more trumpeted, some smaller than her thumbnail. And when Princess Qi’ra was next barred from a confidential meeting, she came to find Leia.

“Come for your regular entertainment?” Leia teased, though her heart was hammering. Her torso was under the guts of the Headhunter she was working on and she was just glad it hid her face, even if it meant all she could see of Qi’ra were her elegant boots.

“Well, you’re just so much better than the court jester,” came the reply, and Leia laughed.

“I’m very glad to hear that.” She slid out from under the ship, stood up—she was shorter than Qi’ra—and hesitated a moment, wiping her greasy hands on her overalls.

Then, before she could lose her nerve, she asked, “Does the court jester also give you gifts?”

“Only if it’s my birthday. Or if I saw him damage a tapestry and he’d like me to keep quiet.” Qi’ra gave her an anticipatory smile that contrasted her levity. “Why?”

“Close your eyes. I’ll be right back.”

“Sounds like you’re about to dump engine grease on me,” Qi’ra commented, but after a hesitant moment she closed them.

“I wouldn’t be that crude with a princess!” Leia called as she ran to fetch the bouquet.

“It wouldn’t be uncalled for. Whatever it takes to get ahead—” Qi’ra flinched, her hands automatically clasping around the bouquet, when Leia pushed them in her face. One of her hands folded around Leia’s and held it there, even as she opened her eyes.

“Oh…” she murmured, then smiled slightly at Leia. “They’re lovely.”

Leia stood awkwardly for a moment, her hand held to the soft white linen over Qi’ra’s heart. At this point in Alderaanian courtship, the receiver would kiss the giver on the cheek if they accepted the offer, but ignore it if not, and every second she stood there waiting…

Qi’ra leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Leia smiled broadly. She leaned towards her, trying to catch her lips in a proper kiss—but Qi’ra stepped back.

“First,” she said, “I have to tell you something.”

Leia rebuilt walls around her heart and said, “Anything.”

“Alderaan will not be joining or funding the Alliance.”

Leia nearly dropped the flowers. It was only Qi’ra’s touch, cool on hers, that kept her hands closed.

“At least… I have advocated against it. Fiercely. If my father decides to join, I have already made clear to him that I will not further the cause or engage in such work when I take the mantle of senator, and nor will I continue such involvement when I am queen.”

Leia… didn’t know what to say. She’d spent her life in one fight or another. Choosing to walk away from it seemed unreal.

All she could say was, “Why?”

“Because I am the Crown Princess of Alderaan.” Her tone grew colder, more clinical, as she spoke. Leia got the impression she’d made this mini speech many times. “And Alderaan is a prosperous Core world that stands for beauty, safety and justice.”

“Exactly! So we need your help. You’re exactly the person we need.” Leia broke off. “If we’d had your support during that mission to Ryloth, we—”

“You did not have it. You still survived.”

“We nearly didn’t!”

“And that is precisely my point. I have a duty to my people to keep them safe, well and cared for. Entering them into a war where we will be the biggest target does not serve that.”

“You are already a target.” Leia couldn’t fathom this at all. “The Empire will feel threatened by any move for independence, will take any excuse to raid, mine, tax or impose curfews on you—”

“So we will not give them a reason to.”

“They’ll find one anyway!”

“Not if we are smart about it.” Qi’ra looked genuinely regretful, and that made it worse. “I am sorry, Leia; I know this hurts you. I don’t mean to. I do care for you.”

She squeezed her hands gently. Leia was tempted to let go. “And we… can still work. You work may still bring you to Alderaan, or neutral planets. We can meet there. I would appreciate the opportunity.”

She leaned to kiss her, but Leia turned her head away. Her eyes, strangely, were as dry as they had been in the desert on Savareen. Of the two of them, Luke had always been the one who cried.

“You would still be consorting with a Rebel—quite literally, there,” she said. She took a step back, taking the flowers with her. Her hands were shaking enough that the wind plucked them from her hands one by one, sending them twirling against the barren, dusty earth. “It would still endanger you, and me.”

She threw the remaining flowers down. “If you have no faith for me—us,” she said sadly, “then I can have no trust for you.”

Qi’ra didn’t argue it. She just watched her, a grease stain left by Leia’s hand clinging to her lovely white dress, right over her heart.

“I am going to protect my people,” she said.

“I am going to protect all people,” Leia replied.

Qi’ra straightened up and, like magic, her moment of vulnerability was gone.

“We shall agree to disagree, then.”

[potionsclasss]

Congrats on 100 followers hun!!!! May I request a ship as well? I’m rather quiet and have a tendency to isolate myself and stick to being alone. But, I am very nice and can be quite sassy when you get to know me. I’m a big animal person. I have 10 pets, all small mammals or reptiles, and I’m working towards a degree in animal conservation. I want to have a career working with endangered species. I’m a big fan of tea and baking (can you tell I’m a hufflepuff) I do penpalling. I’m a bit clumy. I’m very often humming or talking in sing-song. Yeah, that’s a bit about me I guess. I’m a soft person, I guess is a decent overall descriptor. But don’t cross me either. That doesn’t bode well. I’m big on healthy boundaries and if you’re an ass you won’t be in my life. Period.

Who your ideal partner is and why

Neville Longbottom (I am VERY passionate about this ship)!!! I feel like the two of you are matched really well in terms of both personality and your houses. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor are both perfectly compatible in core values. You are each a little quiet and introverted, but you both have overt boundaries and know right from wrong. Your hobbies are perfectly complementary, you making him tea and cinnamon rolls in his soft oversized sweater while he rambles about plants and the stars would be a very common activity for the two of you.

How you met

Neville being clumsy of course. We all know he would fancy you and daydream about sharing a toad with you (couple goals) and admire from afar for quite literally YEARS. You and Neville would be friends but he just couldn't work up the courage to tell you how he felt. One day, the two of you were walking to herbology when he tripped on his two left feet stumbling a little into your arms. You would catch him, a little breathless, and look into his honey brown eyes. It was the first time the two of you had touched and you could feel fire rip through your veins. "Th-thanks!" he would stutter, dangerously close to your face to the point where you could count his sun-kissed freckles and smell the spearmint toothpaste on his breath. That small but sweet moment sparked an adorable relationship between the two of you that would surely last a lifetime. 

First Date

Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Neville was an attentive boyfriend and knew your affinity for tea and sweets and fresh baked goods. There was a small tea shop located on a side road off the High Street in Hogsmeade Village, owned by Madam Puddifoot, and he knew it would be perfect for your first date. Both of you would be endearingly nervous and stumbling over your feet while walking.  When you entered, a fireplace stood near a small round tea-table set for two, and upon it a little silver tea-kettle on a standard of the same metal. Dainty cups and saucers of egg-shell china were grouped about it; a miniature silver tray held a sugar-dish and a cream-pot and a half-dozen gold-lined souvenir spoons. It was soft and delicate and perfect, everything that Neville thought you were too. And we all know Neville would totally freak out after walking you back to your dorm when you planted a soft kiss on his chapped lips leaving him speechless as you left with a giggle. 

Little things about the two of you:)

-Him smiling shyly and blushing a lot, even at just the thought of you.

-He was sweet because he elevated others because he listened and held their emotions as if they were a fragile and sacred thing.

-He would love love LOVE being the little spoon.

-You were a patient girlfriend, and would constantly listen to him rant about herbology, him, in turn, trying his absolute hardest to remember the names of all your pets.

-Neville would always smile sheepishly when you kissed him or held his hand in public, but he would secretly adore every single second of it.

A song that reminds me of your relationship: Looking out for you by Joy Again

@bunnybubkook

[tae-cup]

When The Earth Met The Sea | Of Eternity and Euphoria (2)

Pairing: Kim Taehyung x Reader

Summary: You had been playing this game with the god of the sea for far too long. He decided to finally put an end to it. 

Warnings: N/A

Word Count: 4.7k Words

A/N: Ideas are just-flowing. Let me know your thoughts, they help motivate me a lot! 

Other: 

Series Masterlist

Normal Masterlist

-

-

The god of the sea, with dark eyes like the depths of the ocean and luminescent skin like the fish below, met her when she was just a new god. A goddess meant to manage Earth long after the original god had worn himself out. 

You were the newest addition to the collection of gods and goddesses. Everyday seemed to have a newcomer. It was bad enough that they need a welcome booth for where they all seemed to pop out of nowhere. The Earth was changing and so were the gods. When the god who brought the continents of the Earth together discovered that his apprentice, you, had accidentally triggered fault lines to break them apart, he was rightfully angry. 

“I can’t believe this. A million years of work to be broken like this.” He had hissed at you. You smiled, still young and hopeful, open to change. That’s what the new gods held against the old gods. They were more open and adaptable. They broke tradition. 

-

You met while you were busy arranging Iceland. You sat puzzled at your desk. It was glass with a large Earth in the middle. You could rotate it with a wave of your hand. For a long time most gods called you the insane ruler of Earth. The goddess that was always in her head. You spent most of your days alone, but you had your thoughts distracting you anyway. 

There was a soft knock on your office doors. You looked up quickly, hesitating to open the door. Maybe you could pretend you weren’t here? You shoved Iceland towards the top of the globe hastily, telling yourself you’d move it soon enough. 

“I know you’re in there.” A low voice announced. You knew that voice, everyone did. The god of the sea often complained to the other gods if they encroached on his territory. You had simply been waiting until he got around to you. After all, you were the reason for so much distress in the oceans with continents sliding everywhere. 

“Come in.” You sighed, not wanting to deal with the annoyed god. Taehyung always looked calm on the surface, but he had a swirling vortex of emotions below. You just didn’t feel like being dragged under right now. 

“Pardon my intrusion,” He started off, to which you held back rolling your eyes. “But there are important matters we need to discuss.” 

“Ever the polite gentlemen.” You drawled. “Well, I suppose I have some time. Please, sit.” You gestured to the chairs at the other side of the desk. You then waved your hand, shooing away the globe. 

“First of all,” He sat carefully, making sure not to wrinkle his suit. “I would like to request you slow down your innovations to the modern world. The continents are stirring up the sea floor and causing thousands of species to become endangered or extinct.” A muscle twitched in his jaw, giving away his frustration. 

You simply smiled, clasping your fingers together at the other end of the desk. “Of course, I understand your anger. However, Mr. Kim, there will always be change. Perhaps you just need to adapt?” Your words held a fire that so contrasted your innocent look. 

You may be considered innocent, lost in your own world, and fragile, but in reality you were anything but. You held a fire in your soul, a down to Earth nature, and you quipped back impeccably well. Taehyung had never met a goddess like you, much less a god. Usually gods and goddesses alike would bow to the whims of one of the oldest gods. He may have let the power get to him. He was taken aback. 

“While that, uh,” He swallowed thickly, not sure how to string together the right words. “While that is true, water adapts easily, I can as well. The issue here is the rate at which change is happening. It’s too fast to adapt. I’m asking for your compassion in this to understand my concerns.” 

“I’ll think on it.” You said vaguely. “I want to get the continents settled. After all, I have my own people to take care of.” 

He dipped his head slightly in acknowledgement before standing. The tension in the air thickened. 

“Well, then, I must be going. Thank you for your...consideration.” His voice was steel, but there was a hint of warmth. You couldn’t deny that you had enjoyed the snappy conversation. 

“Good day.” You smiled as you watched him leave in a hurry. It would take more than good looks or witty dialogue to change your mind on things. 

-

-

“Ah, Ms. Y/N.” A familiar voice reached your ears. Oh no. You slowly turned around, a forced smile on your face. 

“Taehyung, how lovely to see you again.” You greeted, looking past him to view the other gods he had arrived with. “I didn’t expect you to actually come.” Your face didn’t give away any emotion, staying on a stagnant smile. 

“Of course I would come, it’s your 1000th birthday.” His lips twitched into a smile. 

“And I will have many more.” You shot back. 

“The first millennia is always special. Soon enough you’ll be considered a proper goddess yourself.” 

“I’m not considered a proper goddess already?” You quirked an eyebrow. He let out a loud laugh that would seem natural if you didn’t know him. He casually ruffled your hair. 

“You’re new yet, don’t be in such a rush to grow old.” His voice had a touch of affection and you weren’t quite sure what to do with that information. He walked away to grab a drink and socialize with the other gods and goddesses at your party. 

It wasn’t a grand party, in god terms. You had a large ballroom in your home, though you rarely held any parties. Humans were tiresome and always needed something from you. That reminded you of another encounter you had with the old sea god. 

-

-

“What’s got you so agitated?” Taehyung leaned casually against the wall in your office. You didn’t need to look up to know it was him. That voice was iconic enough. 

“These humans.” You muttered, running a hand through your hair. “They always want more. It seems Jin has created a very greedy species.” 

“But Jin loves them nonetheless. He admires there tenacity.” 

“They’re like weeds.” 

The dark eyed god laughed genuinely. “You are correct, my darling goddess.” 

You rolled your eyes. “First they thought the world was flat and now they’re begging for a better harvest as if I have nothing better to do.” You massaged your forehead, holding your head in your hands. You sunk miserably into your chair. “What makes it worse is that I don’t.” You practically threw your hands up in frustration. “Why couldn’t I have gotten assigned to the stars or moon?” 

Taehyung’s gaze softened seeing you struggle so hard. He carefully approached you, looking around uncomfortably. What could he do? He lifted his hand and slowly patted your back. It was a mixture of being comforting and annoying. 

“Hey, it’ll be okay. You’ll learn soon enough that you don’t have to do everything they want. Yes, they’ll worship you, but they love you even more if they experience what’s it’s like without your guidance. They’ll appreciate you more.” He said, his voice deep and soothing. You sighed, back moving up and down under his touch. 

“You’re right, I guess.” When you looked up, you met his eyes. And it was like you were drowning. The orbs of his eyes weren’t obsidian at all, they were a deep, glittering blue. You felt like you were losing your grip, so you quickly pulled away. “Thank you, but I’m very busy.” 

He simply nodded and made his way toward the door. “Try not to be so hard on yourself.”

-

-

Even now, your eyes trailed him around the room. You shook your head and decided to distract yourself with greeting the endless sea of new guests. The temperature of the room rose with the amount of bodies piling in. You hadn’t expected so many to show up. You weren’t much of a crowds person, again, you were known as the looney goddess up in her head all day. 

“I hope we can get along well.” Seokjin smiled, placing a kiss on your hand. You smiled gently. 

“I, too, hope we can work together. Though, your humans are troublesome creatures.” 

He chuckled and moved to the side, making way for the last god you expected to see. The god of the underworld stood there, his presence seemingly dropping the room’s temperature in itself. He frowned, looking awfully out of place next to the bright colors of the night. 

“Mr. Min, lovely to see you.” You smiled pleasantly. He waved you off, eyes lazily surveying the room. 

“I just came to wish you well. I believe we’ll be in touch very shortly.” He whispered so only you could hear him. You froze. No god or goddess who was in charge of living things wanted to hear that they would be meeting the god of the dead any time soon. 

“What do you mean? What do you know?” You murmured back, fighting the urge to run to your office and check on the troublesome humans. Jin had left them in your care after he was done perfecting them. He claimed they were the perfect inhabitants for your lonely continents. 

“You’ll have to talk to Jungkook about it.” He shook his head, moving to the side. You realized you had been talking far too long and people were throwing you suspicious stares, especially Taehyung. You excused yourself from the long line and made your way to the bar. You practically stumbled into a seat, like you were already drunk. You must have looked physically paler than ever before because the bartender poured you a glass of something strong without question. 

Jungkook was a new god, like you. He had been made when humans were made. A very select few gods knew his reason for being here. That included the big three (Yoongi, Taehyung, and Seokjin), Jungkook, and Namjoon. The five of them didn’t seem very happy about him being there and they refused to tell you his reason for inhabiting this world. Taehyung would just shake his head, a soft look on his face, and say that he prayed you never found out. 

“What happened?” Taehyung slid into a seat next to you. 

“Tell me, Tae.” You turned to him, hand tightly gripping the glass. “What is Jungkook’s purpose here?” Your jaw clenched. 

“Why do you need to know?” He looked bewildered. 

“It pertains to the safety of my inhabitants.” You hissed. 

“You really shouldn’t worry about it.” 

“Why did Yoongi claim I would be meeting with not only him, but also Jungkook, very soon?” 

Taehyung’s gaze searched your face. He had a distant look on his face. Then he brushed his hands through his hair. He forced a kind smile onto his face, but his eyes were cold. 

“War. Y/N. War. He’s the god of war.” 

-

-

You rushed out of your room to empty the contents of your stomach out once more. You truly were the most human of all the gods and goddesses. You took on a certain amount of pain your little humans possessed, but this was getting ridiculous. How many times can a god throw up on an empty stomach? 

You were not well, everyone knew this. When you could stand, other gods sent you sympathetic looks. Your little humans. Your dreaded companions that plagued themselves with hatred for each other for centuries. 

You gasped for air, flushing the toilet. Your eyes closed, trying to hold onto your stomach. You couldn’t eat, you couldn’t sleep. You had to constantly survey the Earth to make sure they didn’t completely destroy it with any of their fancy new weapons. You fell to the floor, feeling like you’d just been punched in the gut. Gods, what had they done to your beautiful creation this time? 

You stumbled down the halls and towards your office, feeling more dizzy by the minute. Then you saw it, the news reports that flashed onto your screen, the carnage. 

“No.” Your voice was so quiet in disbelief. Then it rose. “No! No! No!” You banged your fist against the table, your other hand clutching your stomach. You felt sick, sicker than before, like you’d been poisoned. All you could see were the words atomic bomb and Japan. You wanted to scream in pain and frustration. You had no lively energy, no color in your cheeks. Your eyes were hollow. Your hands shakily grabbed the table as you pulled yourself to a standing position. Quiet tears streaked down your cheeks. 

“Jungkook.” You yelled hoarsely. “Jungkook!” 

Finally, the young god appeared in a shimmering light, an astral projection to your office. Unlike you, he seemed to be glowing, basking in the violence. Now he radiated energy and pure rage. 

“Please.” You choked, squeezing your eyes shut. “Please, stop this.” You cried out, voice breaking. He just tilted his head, seemingly reveling in your tears. 

“Why? I’m thriving, Y/N.” He chuckled darkly. 

“You’re killing me.” Your voice was flat, stating a simple truth. If the reason for a god’s existence disappeared, then the god would be forgotten as well. He smiled a little. 

“Fine, but you can’t expect me to hold back next time.” He disappeared and you collapsed on the floor, unable to stand any longer. 

Pain was all you felt, saw, heard, smelled. His sadistic smile forever burned in your vision. 

“Y/N?” A concerned voice came through. You heard a tray drop and the hurried footsteps of someone. “Oh my gods, what happened?” 

You didn’t have the energy to respond. 

“See, this is why I told you not to get so invested in your little humans.” He murmured, the low voice giving you a sense of peace. Inside, Taehyung was furious. Seeing you laying there helpless broke something in him. And when he picked you up, you were so frail, all bones. Your immortality would not allow you to starve to death, but you could feel that pain. 

“You idiot.” His voice didn’t wobble, though he felt like breaking down seeing you like this. Maybe he cared more about you than he should. Maybe he was the idiot for falling in love with you. 

“I just-I just wanted to help.” You murmured softly against his shirt. He just clutched you tighter, laying you down onto the large bed. 

“I know, love, I know.” He whispered, brushing a few strands of hair from your forehead. He couldn’t handle seeing you in this feverish state. This is not what a god should look like. 

Your ethereal light was faded significantly, now a dim glow. 

“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to take care of me. You have the sea to handle.” 

“I’d choose you over the sea any day.” He murmured, hoping you hadn’t heard, but you had. You just didn’t react, knowing he would feel awkward if you acknowledged it. Your heart beat quickly, and not because of the fever. 

You tugged on his hand. “Stay.”

And he did. 

-

-

“What’s the prophecy?” Taehyung tilted his head, looking at the pale god before him. Yoongi sighed and took a deep breath, ready to repeat the entire thing again. “No, no,” Taehyung held up a hand. “I’ve already heard that version. Just sum up the important points.” 

“Alright.” The older god grumbled. It wasn’t unusual for Taehyung to talk brashly. “Basically, I’ll meet my soulmate and they will lead me down a path that will end in my demise.” 

“Anything else that could lead to your demise?” Hoseok raised an eyebrow. 

The seven men all sat rather uncomfortably around a table in the throne room. They all looked around, trying to avoid the topic. Finally, Jungkook banged his fist on the table. 

“Can we all stop acting like idiots, we’re gods! Why can’t we utter his name? It’s pathetic!” He shouted. Namjoon shot him a glare and Taehyung eyed him warily. He still hadn’t forgiven the younger god for putting you through so much pain. 

“Kronos is not a titan to be trifled with.” Namjoon muttered, barely making out the name. 

“We all know he’s coming back, hell, even Y/N can feel the growing tension.” Jungkook continued his rant, though a little more subdued. It was true, you had been complaining of this tension in your chest for ages now. 

“Don’t talk about her.” Taehyung crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat. 

“What? You worried for your girlfriend?” Jungkook sneered. “You’ve grown soft for that insane goddess.”

His fists clenched under the table and Namjoon eyed him carefully. 

“Alright, alright, settle down.” Namjoon glared harshly at the two gods. “Jin?”

“Yes?” The sky god straightened. 

“Keep an eye on Kronos and Taehyung, please stay behind. I need to speak to you about something.” 

Taehyung simply nodded as the others filed out of the room. Now alone, he sagged in his seat. “What do you want, Joon?” 

Namjoon raised his eyebrows. “Is that any way to speak to me? Now, I need you to watch Yoongi. I don’t...I don’t want his love to be the downfall of us.”

The sea god scoffed at the other. “You really think Yoongi would fall in love with anyone?” 

Namjoon’s eyes softened, looking Taehyung over. “I mean you fell in love, it’s not impossible.” 

Taehyung gaped at Namjoon. “What-what? No!” He sputtered. The elder god gave him a knowing smile. “And what are you suggesting! I’m not that hard to love.” He mumbled the last part.

“Listen, you just need to take care of whoever it is.”

Taehyung’s face fell. “Take...care of?” 

“Make it look like an accident.” 

“I thought you didn’t believe that stuff?” Taehyung argued. The thought of destroying someone’s soulmate made his heart ache. 

“Of course I believe the fates. I just didn’t want to worry Yoongi too much. Now, Tae, you’ve found your soulmate, yes?”

The dark haired god tilted his head. “Really?”

“Oh come on, Tae. You can’t be that stupid. It’s obviously Y/N.” Namjoon rolled his eyes. Taehyung swallowed. 

“Why does this matter?”

“Well, I love you like a brother, but if you can’t follow through on this...” Namjoon looked into Taehyung’s eyes, a dangerous smile reaching his lips. “...I won’t hold off Jungkook next time.” 

Taehyung’s eyes widened. “But, hyung, this is too cruel.” Argued the restless god. 

“I have no issue with being cruel. I have an issue with Olympus falling to Kronos once more.” 

“Do you know who it is?” 

“Yes, a mortal.” 

Taehyung froze, swallowing thickly. “A...mortal? Hyung this is too easy.” 

“Mortals are easily curious and attracted to evil, you know this better than anyone...Y/N knows this better than anyone.”

“And yet she stays good on her word to Jin. She still defends them and helps them tirelessly.” Taehyung had even grown a soft spot, seeing how much you cared about those pitiful creatures. 

“She’s a bit odd,” Namjoon watched a muscle in Taehyung’s jaw twitch at that. “But she will understand, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“She’ll hate me, hyung.”

“Thousands are lost to the sea every year.”

“But never on purpose!”

“She won’t hate you. Y/N is your soulmate, she’ll understand it’s for the better of all gods.”

Though the sea god doubted this, he still nodded. “Fine. I’ll do it. But if I get kicked out of the house, I’m staying with you.”

-

-

You did not understand. 

“Tae! You can’t just do this to an innocent person!” Once she had overheard the plan, she ran straight to Yoongi to warn him. “She’s eight. EIGHT!” You felt distraught, feeling sympathy for this poor child who was almost killed for no fault of her own. 

“I can’t believe you went and told Yoongi.” Taehyung cried, slamming his hands on the desk. You flinched slightly, but that didn’t deter him. “I did what I had to! Don’t you understand that? Do you want to die? You’re part of the original gods who put Kronos down there. He won’t be kind to you.” 

“That was the original god, not me.” You defended yourself. “I’m sorry I went to Yoongi, but I can’t do that to him. I know I would feel absolutely heartbroken if my soulmate died.” 

Taehyung frowned, ignoring your statement. “Did you know?”

“Know? That you wanted to kill a child?” 

“No,” He stepped around the desk and took your hands in his. “That we’re soulmates.” 

Your face got visibly pale and you instantly dropped his hands. You tried to ignore the hurt that flashed across his face. “You’re mistaken.” 

“Namjoon told me.” 

“He could be wrong.”

“Would it really be so bad, to be soulmates with me? To live together, forever?” He peered into your eyes. You softened your facial features. 

“I mean, no, I don’t know.” You sighed, tugging at your hair. “I just didn’t expect this.” 

“I wouldn’t mind.” 

You stopped your worrying, glancing over his features. You searched for a sign of sarcasm, but you found none. 

“I think I love you.” You suddenly said, your voice quiet. He resisted the urge to kiss you right there, the look on your face was so pure. 

“You think?” He teased. He took a step forward and this time you didn’t move away. “I think I love you too.” 

He leaned forward, lips brushing yours, teasing you almost. You leaned up, planting a soft kiss on his lips timidly. It was all over then. He grasped your waist, pulling you impossibly closer. You ran your hands through his hair. His tongue begged for entrance to your mouth and you gladly let him in. Taehyung’s breath fanned over your face as he pulled away, leaning down to pepper kisses down your jawline and neck. You gasped, surprised at the neediness he displayed. His hands ran up and down your waist. 

“You know I’ll protect you no matter what, right?” He said breathlessly. You nodded, shifting under him. “You drive me crazy, Y/N. You make me want to ruin you.” 

You felt your cheeks heat up. You buried your face in the crook of his neck, the centuries of being alone slowly fading away. It had been so long since you’d touched anyone intimately. You were sure you were that last virgin goddess in this town. You nudged him away softly. 

“Not yet.” Your voice was firm but rang sweet. 

He whined ever so slightly when he pulled away, taking in your flushed face. 

“Gods, I’m so in love with you.” He declared. 

You were speechless. You were so madly in love with him too. But how could you say it? It almost embarrassed you to be so open in your affections. So you simply nodded, pulling him into your lips once more. 

-

-

You had long forgotten the little eight year old you and Yoongi had saved. Then she stumbled into the underworld, every god could feel the disturbance, no longer a little girl. She held herself with a lovely confidence. You couldn’t help watching her. After all, she was under your jurisdiction. You left your bed early in the morning, wiggling out from under Taehyung. 

You watched him slowly shift, not noticing the lack of warmth. You smiled at his sleeping figure. He looked so peaceful, no sign of the whirlpool underneath. You had long been swept under, but you didn’t mind. He never overwhelmed you. 

“Little human, what are you doing here?” You murmured to yourself, watching her wander through the halls. Then you remembered the meeting the gods had in a bit. You carefully flicked through the latest news, though you, of course, knew all of it first. You enjoyed the simple views of these papers, just trying to grab the attention of consumers. 

“You’re up early.” Taehyung stood in the doorway, watching you with such love in his eyes, you just wanted to melt. You were still emotionally unstable since World War II, unable to think about war without wanting to break down again. Taehyung hated that he never stepped in. He hated that Jungkook allowed you to go through that. You felt like a ghost, often drifting off during conversation, but Taehyung was always gentle and patient with you. It seemed you were the only one he had patience for. 

“Oh, yeah.” You scratched your head awkwardly. “Don’t you have a meeting to get to?” 

“Yeah. Yoongi said it was important.” 

“You didn’t kill the girl.” 

“I know.”

“What will happen to you?” 

I’m more worried about you. He thought to himself. “Nothing, love.” He opened his arms and you didn’t hesitate to hug him. “You don’t need to worry about me.” He murmured into your hair. 

“Just don’t do anything stupid.” You mumbled. 

“Of course.” 

You patted his arm lovingly. “And try to give her a chance, okay? You intimidate most gods, what can you expect from a mortal?” 

Taehyung chuckled, but he didn’t respond. You sighed and gave him a chaste kiss. “Be safe, love.” 

-

-

Your face blanched, watching Taehyung get dressed. His hands shook. 

“Where are you going?” You asked, voice small. He jumped, looking back to see you standing in the doorway. Taehyung fastened his necktie, swallowing. 

“Namjoon wants me to finish the job.” 

You froze, eyes widening. “What?” 

“I know.” He groaned, hurriedly putting on his shoes. “but it should be easy since she’s traveling to the surface to pack up.” He went to move past you, but you planted yourself in the doorway. 

“No.” You said firmly, crossing your arms. He looked at you, bewildered. 

“I know you don’t like this, but at this point I have no choice. It’s you or her.” 

“I’m a goddess, Taehyung. I’m not a fragile flower. I can handle pain. A mortal cannot!” You cried out. “If it’s me versus her, choose her.” 

His gaze hardened and he stepped forward. He place his hands on your shoulders. “No.” Then he moved you aside like you were nothing. 

“Kim Taehyung.” You were shaking, hatred pouring through you. “If you do not turn back around right now, I can promise you I will leave. I will leave and you won’t see me again.” 

“I can’t believe this.” He whispered menacingly. He turned on his heel, facing you, pain in his eyes. But he knew the terror and pain you were displaying on your face would be engraved in his mind forever. “A human over yourself? You truly are the most selfless goddess I know.” 

“They are my fish.” You gestured grandly. “If they die, I die. If the Earth dies because of them, then that’s my fault for loving them too much.” 

“You always love people too much. Including me.” He took your hands in his, giving them a soft squeeze, all anger from before was gone. “But you’re lucky I’m absolutely, madly, in love with you.” 

Then he turned around, leaving you frozen in place, heart beating wildly. “Taehyung!” You cried, dress flowing behind you as you chased after him. Too late. He was gone. “No, no, no.” You sank to the ground, holding your head in your hands. The pain you felt for that poor girl. 

-

“Lift your head, Y/N.” His gentle voice called to you. And when you looked up, there stood Taehyung in all his glory. Not a hair out of place. You scrambled up, immediately backing away. 

“That was fast.” You said bitterly. 

“How long have you been sitting there?” His eyes met yours. You glanced away. 

“Since you left.” 

“That was hours ago.”

“So you did it?” You answered harshly, already feeling the tears ready to spill over. 

“No.” 

You looked up at him, eyes blinking back the tears in surprise. “No?”

“I couldn’t. Not to you. Not to her.” 

A grin broke out onto your face. 

“So you do have a heart after all, Mr. Kim Taehyung.” 

He grimaced, “I didn’t like you using my name like that. I prefer you calling me Tae.” 

You chuckled at his forlorn expression. You walked forward and embraced him. His arms enveloped you in warmth and you felt completely safe. Completely normal. Now you understood why humans went to war for such trivial things. Before you couldn’t understand why they hated each other, why they hurt each other, and by default, you. It’s because they love something else that’s worth fighting for. And as you sank into his embrace, you knew you would go to war for him, even if Kronos ate you like your ancestors, you wouldn’t regret it one bit. 

[sweet-cynical-writer]

Hi Zai, this is a request for some form of Fyodor content, literally anything, please, thank you and I hope you have a lovely evening 💕

Ratty—

Luckily for you I actually had this angst prompt ready for Fyodor. I am still unsure how well I can perceive this man of mystery but I shall do my best.

Angst Prompt: "Fyodor loves pretty things.. he likes to preserve them in their beauty and wishes to keep them for all eternity. It works fine with creatures, why not try humans as well?"

JUDGEMENT DAY

It all started with a fragile yet light-hearted meeting in a café. He took notice of you like an angel had descended from the heavens above. Long, well-groomed silver hair that trailed along your back to stop at your hips. This was God's work, telling him to snatch you right up into his arms.

How dainty and delicate your fingers looked when you grasped your cup of latté. He watched your every movement, from the sway of your hips to the way you sat in your seat. So elegant yet something lingered around you. The Russian was intrigued and taken by that unknown factor.

He must have you in his arms, he thought to himself possessively. It didn't matter what measures he had to take. Fyodor would see to it himself that you would be retrieved with as little damage to your fragile being as possible. The time went by and the clock in the establishment seemed to tick louder than usual. Of course, it was due to him shutting out all other noises of the outside world while his gaze remained fixated on his eternal beauty.

It couldn't wait longer. No it could. He just didn't want to. He rose from his seat and walked over to his prey. Your gaze broke away from your phone that you were tapping away at feverishly. Who was this dark, foreboding looking man? Some kind of chilling aura surrounded you like being in a blizzard. You covered yourself in your sweater to warm up. That reaction made him give a half smile towards you.

"Lovely café isn't it? Are you doing research on something?"

His question made a cold shiver run down your spine. This man was giving you goosebumps but why couldn't you bring yourself to leave? The curiosity was eating away at you. Why did he come to speak to you?

"I am.. researching treatments for an ailment I have."

"May I ask what ailment? For you see, I am a physician. I could be of assistance if you'll have me, Мой дорогой."

You blinked in shock then chuckled softly. It was faint and gentle like feathers carried by the wind. A sound he found soothing to his ears.

"I unfortunately do not know what I have. Would you be able to see me.. today perhaps? I do not have a lot of money but.."

He reached out and took your soft hand in his. You let out a gasp when his cold touch matched yours. The two of you were cold in temperature but to each other, one was slightly warmer than the other. The man was dressed a bit less like a doctor than what you were used to seeing. But you didn't like to judge a book off of its cover before reading it first.

"For a lovely face such as yours, I do not wish to take your money. If I could assist in preserving your beauty that is payment enough."

Taken by his words, you let him whisk you away. You knew no one. No family. Nor friends. No one would realize you left this world and yet this doctor wanted to keep you alive.

All you could remember was meeting the Russian then blacking out after accepting his invitation to being diagnosed. Your body felt cold and stiff when you came to, a dimly lit room of candlelight. Then a familiar voice sounded nearby.

"You’re awake. I have your results if you want to see them."

It felt difficult to sit up from where you laid on a soft bed. You felt his hand take yours as he brought his other hand behind your head then moved it to your back to assure a comfortable shift.

"Thank you... I didn't get your name, doctor."

"You may call me Fyodor, my lovely."

That name gave you a rich and warm taste from how velvet his voice flowed. You took the papers in your grasp to carefully analyze. Eyes scanning then stopping on the disease name.

"ALS?.."

"Formally called, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis."

You blinked, feeling too stunned to read on after seeing that it was incurable. A fatal disease that would eat away at your lifespan. Although Fyodor had no issue going on about details of the symptoms and what the disease effected in the body.

"What you have is a progressive neurological disease characterized by the destruction of nerve cells that are responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movement. Examples of voluntary muscle movement include chewing, walking, talking and breathing."

Your blood felt like it turned to ice. A lump in your throat making it difficult to speak. There's no cure. Your body was deteriorating from the inside out. Waiting for your expiration date. In a way you felt that you knew it all along. You chose to play blind into not accepting it until now. A faint ghostly smile upon your pale lips as you looked to Fyodor with light blue eyes that were clouded in grey.

"I appreciate the diagnosis. Now, as for payment.. I want to.. offer you my body when I die."

He didn't ask you why nor did he want to deny your offer. It was God's work after all. He truly sent this angel down for him to keep. It perfectly aligned with what was intended.

"How long do I have?"

"A few months. But you knew that didn't you, прекрасный?"

You nodded solemnly in defeat. This disease in particular gave people who had it an average lifespan of two to five years before they died. You already lived out almost two years since diagnosed. Your time was almost gone.

"How will you live out the rest of your days?"

"I want them to be with you. It's strange.. but I feel that you'll see to it that I do not die.. alone."

How sweet and tender you were to him. Those words like silk from your gentle voice. So weak and fragile like an endangered species. He took you into his home and saw to just that.

The days you spent with him were like a lucid dream. He would play the cello and lull you to sleep at night or play with your silver locks, caressing them in between his fingers. Fyodor would take you to ballroom dance in an empty room. His hand delicately hugging your hip while the other hand folded like a puzzle piece into yours.

That evening when you hummed along with his cello playing was the last breath you took. No final words, for you had already said everything that needed to be heard. He paused his playing to bring you into his arms to feel your heart slow to a stop, your body getting colder by each minute your organs failed to work. A sickening smirk revealed his teeth like a ravaging wolf starving for years for a delicacy to drop in front of him.

"Now.. let us get to work on maintaining your beauty. For all eternity. Milaya.."

[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #71

Brought to you by a frustrated marine biologist...

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!

Not too long ago, people used to think the ocean was virtually infinite, that the ocean was one big habitat all the fish lived in. “Plenty of fish in the sea” is a saying that comes directly from this line of thinking. Even today, there are plenty of people who think protecting the ocean makes no sense, because how could we possibly hurt something so vast? Pretty easily, is the answer, and I don’t think there’s a fish that embodies this “giant’s fragility” more than this fish, the Napoleonfish.  

The Napoleonfish is not common; you’d be hard-pressed to find it without first catching a bunch of Sea Bass. In fact, I even caught the Ray before finding this thing, so maybe get some bait going if you’re getting frustrated. When you hook it, you’ll know, though. 

The Naploeonfish is actually more commonly known as the Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), but I can see why Nintendo didn’t want to use that name. LOL It belongs to the same Order, the Labriformes, as Parrotfish. This species in particular is widespread across the Indo-Pacific’s coral reefs. It is the largest member of its Family, Labridae, the wrasses, with males growing to lengths of almost 6 feet (2m). And yes, this is one of those species where males are larger; the species actually experiences protogynous hermaphroditism, in which they all start life as females and become male later in life at larger sizes. 

When you bring this magnificent fish to Blathers, the one thing he talks about is how it’s endangered, and he’s right. According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), an organization that ranks species’ threatened status based on the most up to date, species-specific data, ranks this fish as “Endangered” with a decreasing population. And this isn’t because no one gives a damn about it. Lots of countries in its range really care about it, as it brings in tourism, being such a big, charismatic species. Unfortunately, there’s a lot going against it, such as (from the IUCN website):

Intensive and species-specific [fishing] for the live reef food fish export trade of [this] naturally uncommon and vulnerable species;

[It’s] readily accessible to spearfishing at night with SCUBA or hookah (i.e., compressed air) gear, and easy to catch with cyanide, or other poisons such as Derris trifoliata, due to predictable adult habitat and shallow depth range [aka it’s too easy to catch this poor thing];

Lack of coordinated, consistent national and regional management largely due to limited management capacity and the sometime secretive nature of traders – in particular there is no relevant regional fishery management authority to address problems with this species;

 Selective fishing, in particular the intensive take of juveniles for direct export sale and for grow-out (also referred to as ‘culture’ – the species cannot be hatchery reared); and

 Illegal, unregulated, or unreported (IUU) fisheries (Donaldson and Sadovy 2001).

We’re going to talk about that last thing, because it’s the biggest thing undermining conservation efforts of marine life all over. This is also what I mean about the ocean being so big and yet so fragile - it’s daunting to protect the ocean because it is so big. Without satellite technologies and the money to have people out on the water looking out for illegal operations (in the US, this would be referring to the Coast Guard and also coastal police, as well as state environmental police) it’s hard to combat IUU. People working at the dock, buyers, sellers, etc also help in this monitoring effort, as long as they aren’t also doing illegal stuff. But that’s in a country like the USA that has the money to invest in these enforcement and protective measures, and even then, it’s not fool proof. 

Of course, at the same time, the world’s oceans are more fragile than they appear. Fish, in particular, rely on a number of habitats throughout their lives. For the Napoleonfish, its juveniles rely on sandy, shallow coral reefs while the adults live out on deeper coral reef areas (which are two completely different habitats, trust me). For big, long-lived species, like this one, the tunas, sharks, billfish, etc. fishing effort becomes a major contributor of decreasing fish populations, because even at large sizes, they may still not be mature enough to breed yet and it takes a long time to bring back a healthy population of adults. This goes along with the habitat destruction that fishing effort usually begets (poisonings, blasting, and even the action of leaving heavy gear out on fragile coral reefs that also take forever to come back, is a major problem). IUU compounds these issues we have with normal, regulated fisheries by doing it too much, in places that are supposed to be protected, to species that aren’t supposed to be experiencing more fishing pressure than we’ve already allocated under the law. (Fishery science is a whole ‘nother topic under the field of “marine biology” if you haven’t noticed lol and it’s obviously the one I’m particular to. Feel free to send me an ask if you have more questions!)

This great website ranks coastal countries in their effort to stop IUU, which is a global problem that does more harm than is obvious (for example, lots of IUU fisheries have been linked to human, drug, and other wildlife trafficking, because why not). Stopping IUU is more than protecting these gorgeous fish, it’s about protecting vulnerable people, food security, and local economies, too. 

My point is...we gotta try harder.

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?

[gingerhuneybee]

Who are you?

Day 6 - Favourite Character and Tara Diddler’s 1K Contest Submission

How did this illustration come about? Read below.

“This one here is called the silent princess. It’s rare endangered species.The princess can only thrive out here in the wild. All of we can hope, is that the species will be strong enough to prosper on its own” - Memory Nine

“Who are you?” he whispered. He leaned forward and picked the fragile flower in his hands. Examining it with curiosity, he sighed. His thoughts were running wild. Golden hair, green eyes, soft voice. As if the young girl stood right in front of him. Yet she was not there.

“Princess Zelda. And you, Link, are the hero of Hyrule.” said the voices in his head. Zelda... Zelda. The name did not belong to any face he knew and yet, evoked so many emotions within him. Then it means, she is Zelda, that girl. Golden hair, green eyes, soft voice.

He lifted his eyes from the petals of silent princess. He gazed over the empty Irch Plain. The deadly loneliness within him was creeping out to its surface. He could feel a lump in his throat and eyes stinging a little. Shaking his head, he placed the little flower in his pouch. He turned his back to the Hyrule castle and continued down the field. It was time to head west.

.........................................................................................................

I thought that I would explain my thoughts behind this illustration. Breath of The Wild is a game that we all end up having a unique experience with. I very much appreciate the funny memes we get about Link messing around in Hyrule, while Zelda really breaks the sweat to keep the Calamity contained.

But I think we do not talk enough about Link’s feelings and how incredibly lonely and difficult it must be for him to go through all of this alone. He wakes up to woman’s soft voice, calling him Link, yet he barely remembers who he is. When he finally reaches Kakariko Village and talks to Impa, she immediately urges him to go help Zelda. But who even is Zelda for the love of goddess Hylia?! I always thought how difficult it must have been for him, suddenly remembering images of this girl, supposedly Zelda. Because we do not acquire the memories in the right order necessarily, his memories are scattered. One day he remembers this girl clearly shouting at him with hatred in her voice and then suddenly next day he remembers her crying in his hands. It must have been confusing and difficult.

I really wanted to depict the sadness he must be feeling. And because I really wanted to join Tara Diddler’s BotW contest, I chose the memories is my favourite aspect of the game.

I did this piece with my custom watercolour palette which I will post about in the near future.

Here is the music I listened to:

Breath of The Wild:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYKPyAMBNKc

The Castle Ruins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOK4yFc6ZYA

Song of Storms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wUUwoOwTWk

Some progress photos:

Thank you all for everything. Have a lovely day!

Bee